by Taylor Berry

A few years ago, my doctor told me she wanted to take me off Diane-35. I thought this was rather queer, as she had been the one to recommend it as a solution for my mild acne and strong desire not to get knocked up. In her typically brusque manner, she explained that it could make some women more prone to blood clotting. I switched birth control pills and thought little of it. I’m lucky, in that for a lot of women, switching pills can be a pretty big deal.

In the past few years, however, a bunch of my friends have gone on Diane 35, despite the fact that I see fewer advertisements for the medication. Remember those ads with the umbrellas, and the mirrors, and the happy-looking girls with the crystal-clear complexions? That’s Diane 35, and those ads were on a bunch of channels Canada-wide, including MuchMusic, Global and CTV. Concerned about my friends going on this pill after I’d just been taken off it, I decided to look into Diane-35 a little bit more.

My doctor took me off the pill because of a Health Canada warning she had received, stating that Diane should be used only as a treatment for pronounced acne, and “should not be promoted or used as a method of birth control.” I had really just wanted to go on any old pill, and didn’t have acne that needed any serious treatment. The warning also noted that Diane-35 users have an elevated risk of potentially fatal blood clots compared to users of other oral contraceptives–going on the birth control pill always raises your risk of blood clots, but Diane-35 does this even more so. And the risk is more serious if you’re a smoker.

A Canadian campaign against the promotion of Diane-35, headed by Canadian doctors (Barbara Mintzes, PhD, Abby Lippman, PhD) stated “there are at least six reported deaths in Canada of young women for which Diane-35 was the suspected cause” and that advertisements for Diane will only lead to more prescriptions, which “can be expected to lead to avoidable, unnecessary harm to previously healthy young women.” I guess that explains why I haven’t been seeing those happy-looking girls with crystal-clear complexions dancing around with umbrellas on TV lately.

Technically, if your physician prescribes you Diane-35 for birth control or mild acne purposes, this is ‘off-label’ use, because Diane-35 is only approved for treatment of severe acne in women who have failed to respond to other acne treatments or show signs of hormonal imbalance.

The bottom line is, there are safer oral contraceptives out there and other treatments for acne, so check with your doctor if you’re on Diane-35 to make sure it’s the right pill for you. And thanks Dr. Rubin, you always have my back.